RIT Student Presentation Explores "What Matters" in our Lives

Latest installment of ESPRIT debuts at Dryden Theater May 23

What matters? It’s a question that resonated with many Americans after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Now, a creative venture by students at Rochester Institute of Technology helps illustrate what truly matters to Rochester-area residents.

ESPRIT (Electronic Still Photography at Rochester Institute of Technology) presents the premiere of What Matters? at 6 p.m. on Friday, May 23. The photo-documentary will be shown at the Dryden Theater, George Eastman House, 900 East Ave., Rochester.

What Matters? is inspired by Picturing What Matters, a community-based exhibition at the George Eastman House. The display featured amateur and professional photographs that were designed to provide hope in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks.

Through images captured by photojournalism students at RIT’s School of Photographic Arts and Sciences, What Matters? offers similar reflections on the normally unheralded priorities that dominate our way-of-life. The images document seven stories shot on-location throughout the Rochester region. In addition, the presentation features video interviews with people describing "what matters" in their lives.

What Matters? is available as an interactive DVD and a corresponding Web site. As the latest installment of ESPRIT, the project represents a cross-campus collaboration of students from photography, film and video, illustration, design, and computer science programs at RIT. In prior years, ESPRIT has taken different forms, ranging from a print magazine to the current DVD.

Admission to the premiere of What Matters? is $25. Proceeds from the event and project support the creation locally of the Bivona Child Advocacy Center, an agency dedicated to the treatment and prevention of child abuse.